The week's equities rebound slowed Thursday, as global benchmarks were mixed following the release of central-bank minutes in the U.S. and Europe.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.2% after a brief upward swing, while futures signaled the S&P 500 will open 0.2% lower.

The European Central Bank said in its minutes from its last meeting that inflation still needed to show "convincing signs of a pickup."

Minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's July meeting were also on the minds of global investors Thursday after it showed disagreement over the timeline for future interest-rate increases in the U.S.

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Despite the divisions in the Fed minutes, they still showed agreement over the central bank's plan to soon begin winding down its balance sheet.

"Now that the economy is in a good place with healthy growth and a labor market, the Fed's taken the view the 10-year yield should be a little bit higher," said Mike Bell, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.243% Thursday from 2.224% Wednesday, according to data from Tradeweb.

In U.S. premarket trading, Cisco Systems Inc. fell 2.5%. The technology company was one of the worst performers after reporting that its revenue fell.

In Asia, technology-heavy markets in Taiwan and South Korea advanced. Samsung Electronics climbed 1.8% and some Taiwanese tech stocks made similar advances.

Along with geopolitical concerns, the prospect of monetary tightening in developed markets has been a factor in cooling foreign buying of Asian stocks, said Khoon Goh, ANZ's head of Asia research, noting that foreigners have pulled a net $2.8 billion from the region's equity markets, excluding China, this month.

The dollar softened overnight as the market digested the Fed minutes, a decline that continued during Asian trading. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies, on Thursday was up 0.2%.

The dollar's earlier decline pressured stocks in Japan, with the Nikkei down 0.1%.

Concerns about a stronger yen's impact on Japan's exporters -- a major part of the country's economy -- send exporters' stocks and often the broader market lower when the currency records even moderate gains. But data out Thursday showed Japan's July exports were up 13% from a year earlier, the eighth straight monthly increase.